Tag Archives: body

Written version: self-understanding and healthy results

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Happy TUESDAY interntians,

I took a bit of a leap for this week’s blog-o-the-week by posting a video blog… of me… standing in front of a camera… shirtless… and headless (I blame the camera guy who’s name we won’t speak but it starts with a J and ends with a D)… rambling on about how I was able to achieve a resulted body as a manifestation of my mind. Idiot-approach aside, I sound like a professional wrestler during a pre-fight interview who just thinks he’s the shit. Not my intention + poor delivery = May have come off that way. So, by the looks of my daily hits, I’m ballparking that the video didn’t go over well. It didn’t go over well not because I look like a jackass. No. It didn’t go over well because I realized today… Monday… the same day that said blog was posted… that people enjoy my blog because of my WRITTEN perspectives… not my spoken perspectives. I’m certainly better behind the keyboard than my projected voice and shirtless attire (my stylist is on vacation). And, in the past, I’ve been told from peers that my blog is an easy and enjoyable read on the way to work or during down time. You would think something would click prior to a trip to devalue-city? Not this guy. I realized that I need to stick to what I’m good at, which is delivering an eloquent hot-mess every monday as a pile of words with a side of boomshakalaka. Plus, I can’t look past the fact that these days, without a decent established viewer demographic, AIN’T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR AN 8-MINUTE MARATHON VIDEO.

Ahem, the written version:

The purpose of my video was to put an image to the author, to put my talk into my walk, to physically portray how I am able to manifest my thoughts into a physical reality… a.k.a standing shirtless and talking about myself… and elaborate on  that manifestation: I achieved my healthy results by simply understanding myself, what I’m all about, why I’m all about, and what makes me… me. Obviously that understanding wasn’t really all-that-simple over the past however-many years, but I did eventually put into perspective the opposite of simple… complicate. I learned to stop complicating things, which then opened the doors for simple as a more direct path to the results and happiness that I desire. If I’m not complicating I can only be simplifying! For years I complicated the hell out of what I thought “health” was. My biggest issue was that I thought health was an external achievement, i.e. physique, diet, and exercise programs. No way in hell did I ever consider my current mental and emotional state nor the years of buried mental and emotional states that play an important role in this sweet life-o-mine. I constantly reached out externally, neglecting the ONLY thing that mattered in a pursuit of health… mahself. Along this pursuit I learned some things. I learned a few life lessons. I learned different ways of thinking that shed light on things that have been in the dark for years. I learned that I need to be happy with myself on the inside in order to be happy with myself on the outside. I learned that I am an absolute asshole when I think I’m right and that there’s only my way or the highway. I learned who I am by clarifying why I am sans [what I thought to be my] reality (hint: self responsibility regarding ev-ery-thin-g). I learned that health is so much more than my physical self!

I did not achieve these results because of a strict diet… I have my definition of healthy and unhealthy foods but I also need to live my life without self-imposed boundaries. “The world can expand when walls do not exist.” (Robert Fritz) I did not achieve these results because of any one superfood… I do have my preference of cooking oil, protein supplement, salt, et cetera but there will never be ONE food that is the be-all-end-all to health. I did not achieve these results because of a specific fitness program… I constantly try out different exercise programs and piece together what works for me, for my goals, and for my lifestyle. I am not healthy because I spend 5+ days in the gym… The world is my gym as long as gravity and my extremities exist.

THIS is how I feel when people see me and immediately inquire about my workout program or diet… Dude, how many days a week do you lift? What program do you do? What’s your diet? I enjoy the look on their face when I say that I might work out 3 days a week (4 at THE MOST), that I’d rather sleep than work out, that I drink soda, I eat bread, I eat full-fat ice cream, I eat saturated fat, I consume sugar, I drink coffee with cream and REAL sugar, I drink whole milk, I drink sugar-infested juice, I eat red meat, I eat fries, or that I rarely eat vegetables. Sure, I went through phases of insane workout programs and strict diets but I do not consider that to be healthy for me at this point in my understanding. I work out sporadically and consume “junk foods” because I truly believe they’re healthy by my definition of “health and happiness.” More importantly, I stopped defining health as just diet and exercise to create a better-fitting idea of what it means for ME to be healthy.

My mentality, my emotional well-being, and my spirituality are far more important than any physicality I possess. My body is nothing without my mind, heart, and spirit. These three are the foundation of my healthy results because THEY are my first priority, because THEY are healthy, because THEY are given the attention that they deserve, and because I have given myself the opportunity to understand why they are so important in my life. My body, my face, and my eyes will always show where my head, heart, and spirit are at.

I know it’s a little short and a bit jumbled, but it’s 1am and there’s 8-minutes worth of jabroni-talk that may have some more insight.

jdperryhealth.com
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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

The value of listening to yourself

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Happy Monday,

We already know all of the answers to our inner-most questions, desires, or pursuits. The phrase, “the answer is within the question” smacks the ball out of the park when it comes to understanding ourselves, our internal realities, how we got here, who we want to be, and where we want to go.

How did I conclude that? And why am I philosophizing this shiz when there are blatant experiences out there proving that we simply cannot learn without going through the education motions?

Well, what motivates a person to pursue the answers to their questions?

Example time!

Let’s say that my life goal is to be a Marine Biologist. I already know my desired result, but I need to figure out how to get there. Right? I know that I need an education to gain more knowledge about this realm. I know that I need to dedicate so much time studying, experiencing, and understanding to get myself from however many A’s to B’s necessary. I know that I will not become a Marine Biologist overnight and that a damn solid foundation must be built so I can take on anything and everything without being knocked off my horse. I know that no matter how much I know, read, learn, or study that I will always have room to learn more and to possibly unlearn some things that I once believed were truths. I know that it’s not going to be easy but I will not settle for anything less than my ultimate goal. I know that sacrifices will be made, priorities must be balanced, and that life is full of changes that could help or hinder my immediate progress, but never my overall progress. I know that I will be a Marine Biologist.

How do I know all of this?

A person holds their interests, their path, their understandings, their new perspectives, and their new findings or experienced results as valuable. In other words, the path of experiences are a true benefit to one’s livelihood, one’s ultimate happiness, because they just know. Here exists two things: an inner guiding voice and a value of that inner voice. We all have this inner voice. I do think it’s very possible to brush it aside, write it off, think it’s wrong, or simply not listen to it because we fail to see its value in regards to our path. The law of karma, anyone?

Many claim that they don’t know. They don’t know about health, self-image, truth from untruth, perspectives, jobs, careers, financials, or relationships. Hmmm… We can choose to eat “healthier” by following our needs and not wants, we can choose to love ourselves internally that will translate externally, we can choose so see the universal truth of a situation and not just our own filtered perspective, we can choose a job or career that won’t require us to settle for less, we can choose to not over-spend or put such a value on money, and we can choose to love and accept everyone.

I get it. It’s hard when there are so many things getting in our way of listening, especially with the ego, beliefs, conditioning, societal pressures, structures, fears, shames, or hurtful experiences swaying our better judgment. Constricted awareness sounds like it would fit in right about now. Let’s define Awareness as an unconditional thought. To be aware means to be present without bias, prejudice, judgement, or assumption. To be aware means to understand a universal karma; you get what you give. Constricted awareness means to only see one biased side of the picture – your side – and leaves little room for universal truths, universal understandings, following a true path, and, most importantly, self-growth.

We will always know what’s best for ourselves if we just take a second to listen AND take another second hold a personal value to that gut-feeling-know’s-best advice. For example, when people come to me for health perspectives I often find myself telling them after a few exchanges that “you know what’s best for you.” I can throw out all the health advice in the world from diet solutions to posture corrections to abdominal exercises to lifestyle changes to perspective awakenings, but absolutely none of that makes any difference if there isn’t a value placed on one’s own internal voice encouraging them to eat healthier, to sit up straight, to not over-train, to go to bed at beneficial hours, or to stop beating themselves up for not being perfect.

Value, value value, value, value, value your guiding voice. 

If you’d like to discuss this perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

jdperryhealth.com
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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Bikini season shmakini season

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Why does the thought of being scantily clad for three months out of the year suddenly spur us into a buckle-down-and-get-healthy mode?

Do the people that bust their asses for bikini season just leave it at that and the rest of the year they spend their days foraging for hibernation season?

Given we naturally store more body fat during the winter months to keep our body at a warm temperature, so why can’t that be taken into consideration as an adaptation mechanism/maintaining homeostasis and not a reason to punish ourselves [in the gym or kitchen]?

Why does bikini season have to last just for three months?

Why does bikini season have to be synonymous with ripped and shredded (when it could really mean malnourished, catabolic, chronically stressed, and hyperthyroid)?

Why does a fashion model-featured summer catalogue have to be the stereotyped basis for body comparison when a good majority of the featured are the complete opposite of healthy on the inside?

Why can’t we just make whole, well-rounded, considerate, and balanced decisions throughout the year and not put our bodies through a boot camp-esque hell just to “look good” in publicly accepted underwear?

If you’d like to discuss this perspective along with other health-related insights, please contact me for a FREE Conversation.

jdperryhealth.com
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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

The fat loss web

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a larger version of the diagram can be found here

As you can see from Fat Loss Web, fat loss is a bit more involved than anything that can be read in a health magazine or diet blog, i.e. Long-distance running, incorporating sprint intervals after a weight training session, performing calorie-burning squats 3x a week, cutting carbs from the diet, increasing daily protein intake, drinking ice-water, or consuming metabolic-stimulants such as caffeine or ginseng. While these have all been promoted as fat-burning practices for some years now (and have worked in some cases), they aren’t necessarily the best approach.

The body wants to survive. What happens when it is in survival mode? Well, fat storage (amongst other processes) And the reasoning (for the sake of today’s post)? (from top left to right)

  • Blood Sugar Imbalances
  • Adrenal Dysfunction (Stress)
  • Gut Dysfunction (Digestion)
  • Thyroid Dysfunction (Metabolism, Digestion)
  • Mind/Body Issues
  • Hormonal Imbalances
  • Cellular Dysfunction (Energy)
  • Brain/Neurotransmitter Dysfunction
  • Immune System Imbalance
  • Liver Dysfunction (Detoxification)

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about taking fat storage into perspective as a positive occurrence (the body saying, “yo, I’m trying to keep you alive here!”) and this blog is to take that perspective one step further by listing some of the mechanisms that can encourage fat storage (and thus providing a perspective on fat loss)…

  • Not eating enough calories to be alive: Breathe, think, drink/eat, digest/eliminate, move/exercise, and rest/sleep. The body needs enough energy to at least keep the lights on!
  • Over-consuming intestinal-inflammatory foods such as grains (gluten, wheat, corn), beans/legumes (soy), polyunsaturated fats (omega -6′s), dehydrated foods (commercial flour, sugar, salt, meal/protein powders), or raw/uncooked above ground vegetables (a great debate, of course).
  • Over-consuming a nutrient-void diet via refined, packaged, boxed, canned, artificially-made, or commercially-raised foods.
  • Over-consumption of toxins vs. the body’s rate of detoxification via smoking, alcohol, plastic/canned food, skin-applicants (lotions, soaps, make-up, etc.) herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, or air-born toxins (gases, fumes, smoke, etc.).
  • Dehydration and/or Over-hydration: Not consuming enough liquids or over-consuming water, which over-saturate cells and flush them of their vital nutrients.
  • Not sleeping enough/irregular sleeping patterns: 7-8 hours/night and a bed time of 10-11pm to 6-7am are ideal for hormonal patterns.
  • Over-training/over-exercising (this is co-dependent with rest/sleep) – Energy In vs. Energy Out vs. Energy Recovery.
  • Avoiding carbohydrates (sugar) – The body’s primary fuel source are carbohydrates (which are broken down into sugar within the digest system). Avoiding or limiting carbohydrates can cause the body to burn muscle for energy.
  • Avoiding fats (specifically saturated fat) – Dietary fats are required for many hormonal processes, tissue stability, vitamin absorption, and bodily functions.
  • Personal unhappiness and a lack of self responsibility

A common theme? Stress.

Physical, dietary, mental, emotional, and/or spiritual stress. Every single dysfunction and mechanism listed above are stress reactions – symptoms to a greater cause. 

What encourages stress? I will take a wild guess that you already have a good idea as to what is causing your stress. To those who have no clue: take some time to listen to yourself, become aware of your actions and reactions, take note, and reflect.

jdperryhealth.com
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jdperryhealth@gmail.com

Video Clip: The Cure is U – How Can Forgiveness Heal A Disease?

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The words that truly landed for me…

The reason forgiveness matters so much is because when the heart is open to focus on your innocence rather than your guilt, to focus on who you are today rather than the mistakes you made yesterday – not just giving a person the benefit of the doubt but give them a break. When the heart is softer that way then it’s an act of self interest in a way because that kind of emotional generosity doesn’t just serve the other person – it serves us. At the same time the critical attitudes, the judgmental attitudes, the “no, I will not forgive you,” doesn’t hurt you – it hurts me.

Forgiveness requires nothing in return. There are no conditions. It gets rid of old baggage and clears up unfinished business.

You want to give yourself a gift? Forgive.

Forgiveness is the highest form of letting go resentment and ego. Like love, forgiveness benefits the giver and the receiver. As Plato once said, “Be kind. For everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

So the idea of forgiving ourselves and loving ourselves – that kind of gentleness towards ourselves is extremely important because whatever it is that we’ve been doing that’s dysfunctional, or that is mistaken, self-sabotaging, self-destructive, or even destructive or sabotaging towards someone else – if after I’ve done it I’m involved in a never-ending hatred of self that will actually tempt me to do it more. You know, the ego mind – the fear-based ego – is both that which sets us up to do the wrong thing and then punishes us savagely for having done it. So, gentleness towards self and others is literally a spiritual strength.

jdperryhealth.com

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jdperryhealth@gmail.com